How do I add a Chat Widget to my Website [7 Explained Steps]

Updated: March 24, 2023

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Are you looking for a way to provide better customer support and increase engagement on your website? Adding a chat widget could be the solution you’ve been searching for. In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps to add a chat widget to your website, from choosing a live chat platform to launching the widget for your users.

By the end of this article, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge and tools needed to successfully implement a chat widget and improve your user experience.

Table of Contents

7 Explained Steps to Provide Better Customer Support

Step 1. Choose a Live Chat Widget

Choosing the right live chat widget is a critical step in adding a chat widget to your website. It’s essential to choose a chat service that meets your needs and provides the best experience for your website users.

There are many live chat widgets available in the market, each with its unique features, pricing, and benefits. When selecting a live chat widget, you need to consider your business needs, budget, and the features you require. Here are some factors to consider when choosing a live chat platform:

Features: You need to choose a platform that offers the features you need to provide the best experience for your website users. Features such as file sharing, canned responses, chatbots, and integration with other tools can enhance your chat widget’s functionality.
User Interface: A user-friendly interface is crucial to ensure that your chat widget is easy to use for your website users. You need to choose a platform that has a simple and intuitive user interface.
Integrations: Integration with other tools such as CRM, email marketing, and helpdesk software can help you streamline your workflow and improve your chat widget’s functionality.
Pricing: Live chat platforms come in different pricing plans, including free, freemium, and premium plans. You need to choose a platform that meets your budget and provides the features you require.
Support: The live chat platform you choose should provide reliable customer support to help you troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

Some of the most popular live chat platforms in the market include Smartsupp, Elfsight Chat, and LiveChat. By considering the above factors and researching different platforms, you can choose the best live chat platform that meets your needs and provides the best experience for your website users.

Step 2. Sign Up and Create an Account

Once you have chosen a live chat widget that suits your business needs, the next step is to sign up and create an account. Signing up for a live chat service is a straightforward process that typically involves providing some basic information about yourself and your business.

To sign up for a live chat software, you need to follow the steps below:

Go to the website of the live chat platform you have chosen.
Look for the “Sign Up” or “Get Started” button on the homepage and click on it.
Enter your email address and create a password for your account.
Fill out the necessary information about your business, such as your company name, website URL, and industry.
Choose a pricing plan that suits your budget and needs.
Complete the payment process if you have chosen a premium plan.
Verify your email address by clicking on the link sent to your email inbox.

Once you have completed the sign-up process, you can log in to your account and start customizing your chat widget. Most live chat platforms offer a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to customize your chat widget’s appearance and functionality. You can choose a chat widget’s color, position, and design to match your website’s look and feel.

In addition to customizing your chat widget, you can also add team members to your account, set up integrations with other tools, and create canned responses to save time when answering frequently asked questions.

By signing up and creating an account on a live chat service, you can take the next step towards adding a chat widget to your website and improving your website user’s experience.

Step 3. Customize your Chat Widget

Customizing your chat widget is an essential step in adding a chat widget to your website. It helps you create a chat widget that is not only aesthetically pleasing but also matches your website’s design and provides an excellent user experience for your website users. Here are the steps to customize your chat widget:

Access Your Chat Widget Settings: Once you have signed up and created an account on your chosen live chat platform, you can access your chat widget settings. The chat widget settings allow you to customize the chat widget’s appearance, behavior, and functionality.
Choose a Design: You can choose a design that matches your website’s color scheme and style. Most live chat platforms offer customizable chat widget designs, including color options, themes, and styles.
Set Your Chat Widget Position: You can choose where you want your chat widget to appear on your website. You can place it on the bottom right or left corner of your website or make it float on your website’s side.
Add Pre-Chat Survey Questions: You can add pre-chat survey questions that website users will answer before starting a chat with your team. This helps you gather more information about your website users, such as their name, email address, and the reason they are contacting you.
Set Chat Availability: You can set the availability of your chat widget. You can set specific hours when your team is available to chat with website users or make it available 24/7.
Add Canned Responses: You can create canned responses to save time when answering frequently asked questions. Canned responses are pre-written messages that you can send with a single click.
Test Your Chat Widget: Before publishing your chat widget, make sure to test it to ensure that it is working correctly. You can test your chat widget by opening your website in a new browser or incognito window and initiating a chat.

Customizing your chat widget is a crucial step in adding a chat widget to your website. By following the above steps, you can create a chat widget that matches your website’s look and feel, provides an excellent user experience, and helps you improve your website user’s satisfaction.

Step 4. Install the Chat Widget on your Website

Once you have chosen a live chat platform, signed up, and customized your chat widget, the next step is to install it on your website. Here are the steps to install the chat widget on your website:

Get the Chat Widget Code: After customizing your chat widget, you’ll be provided with a code that you need to add to your website’s HTML. This code is unique to your chat widget and allows you to embed it on your website.
Add the Code to Your Website’s HTML: To add the chat widget code to your website’s HTML, you’ll need to access the backend of your website. Depending on your website platform, this may involve accessing the theme editor, template editor, or code editor.
Paste the Code into Your Website’s HTML: Once you’ve accessed your website’s HTML, find the place where you want to embed your chat widget. This is usually in the header or footer section of your website. Then, paste the chat widget code into the HTML editor.
Save and Publish Your Website: Once you’ve pasted the chat widget code into your website’s HTML, save your changes, and publish your website. You can then check your website to ensure that the chat widget is working correctly.
Test the Chat Widget: Finally, test your chat widget by initiating a chat from your website. Make sure that you receive the chat request and that you can respond to it using your live chat platform’s dashboard.

Installing a chat widget on your website is a crucial step in adding a chat function to your website. By following the above steps, you can embed your chat widget onto your website and provide your website users with a convenient way to contact you. Make sure to test your chat widget to ensure that it’s working correctly before making it available to your website users.

Step 5. Test your Chat Widget

Once you have installed the chat widget on your website, it’s important to test it to ensure that it’s working correctly. Here are some steps to follow when testing your chat widget:

Initiate a Chat: The first step in testing your chat widget is to initiate a chat from your website. This can be done by visiting your website and clicking on the chat widget button. You can also ask a friend or colleague to initiate a chat with you from your website.
Check Chat Notification: When someone initiates a chat from your website, you should receive a notification. This can be in the form of a sound, pop-up window, or email notification, depending on your chat platform settings. Check to make sure that you receive the notification and that it’s working correctly.
Respond to the Chat: Once you receive a chat notification, respond to the chat using your chat platform’s dashboard. Make sure that you can communicate with the person initiating the chat and that there are no technical issues.
Test Different Scenarios: To ensure that your chat widget is working correctly, test it in different scenarios. For example, try initiating a chat from different devices or internet connections. This will help you to identify any issues that may arise in different situations.
Monitor Chat Performance: After testing your chat widget, monitor its performance over time. This includes tracking the number of chats initiated, the response time, and the customer satisfaction rate. Use this data to improve your chat widget and ensure that it’s providing value to your website users.

Testing your chat widget is an essential step in adding a chat function to your website. By following the above steps, you can ensure that your chat widget is working correctly and providing a positive user experience for your website users. Remember to monitor its performance over time and make improvements as needed.

Step 6. Train your Chat Agents

Once you have set up your chat widget and started receiving chats from your website users, it’s important to train your chat agents. Chat agents are the people who will be responding to the chats initiated by your website users, so it’s important that they are well-trained and knowledgeable about your business and products. Here are some steps to follow when training your chat agents:

Develop Chat Guidelines: Before starting the training process, it’s important to develop chat guidelines. These guidelines should outline the tone, language, and style that your chat agents should use when responding to chats. They should also provide examples of how to handle different situations, such as answering common questions or resolving customer complaints.
Provide Product and Service Training: Your chat agents should have a good understanding of your business, products, and services. Provide them with comprehensive training on your products and services, including their features, benefits, and pricing. This will help them to answer customer questions accurately and effectively.
Teach Chat Etiquette: Chat etiquette is an important aspect of chat agent training. Chat agents should be taught how to greet customers, how to handle difficult or angry customers, and how to close a chat. They should also be taught how to handle multiple chats simultaneously and how to manage their time effectively.
Role Play: Role-playing is an effective way to train your chat agents. Role-play different scenarios, such as answering a customer’s question, handling a complaint, or closing a chat. This will help your chat agents to become more comfortable with handling different situations and responding to customers effectively.
Monitor Chat Performance: After training your chat agents, monitor their chat performance. Use chat analytics to track their response time, chat duration, and customer satisfaction rate. Provide feedback to your chat agents on how to improve their chat performance and encourage them to continually improve their skills.

Training your chat agents is an essential step in providing a positive user experience for your website users. By following the above steps, you can ensure that your chat agents are well-prepared to handle customer inquiries and provide valuable support to your website users.

Step 7. Launch your Chat Widget

After you’ve completed the previous steps of choosing a live chat platform, signing up and creating an account, customizing your chat widget, installing it on your website, testing it, and training your chat agents, it’s time to launch your chat widget. Here are some steps to follow when launching your chat widget:

Set Availability Hours: Decide on the hours that your chat agents will be available to chat with website users. This will help to manage customer expectations and ensure that your chat agents are available during the times when they are most needed.
Test the Widget Again: Before launching your chat widget, test it again to make sure that everything is working properly. Test it from the perspective of both the chat agent and the website user to ensure that the user experience is smooth and seamless.
Promote the Chat Widget: Let your website users know that your chat widget is available for them to use. Promote it on your website, social media, email marketing, and other relevant channels. You could also offer a promotion or discount to incentivize users to try it out.
Monitor Performance: Keep an eye on the performance of your chat widget after launch. Use chat analytics to track metrics such as chat volume, response time, and customer satisfaction. This will help you to identify any issues or areas for improvement.
Continuously Improve: Use the data and feedback gathered from monitoring performance to continuously improve your chat widget. Implement changes to the chat widget design, agent training, availability hours, and other areas as needed to optimize the user experience and increase customer satisfaction.

By following these steps, you can successfully launch your chat widget and provide valuable support to your website users. Remember to continuously monitor performance and make improvements to ensure that your chat widget continues to meet the needs of your users.

Conclusion: Adding a Chat Widget to your Website

Adding a chat widget to your website can help you to provide better customer support, increase engagement, and boost sales.

By following the steps outlined in this article, you can successfully add a chat widget to your website and launch it for your users. Remember to choose a live chat platform, sign up and create an account, customize your chat widget, install it on your website, test it, train your chat agents, and finally launch it.

Additionally, it is important to continuously monitor the performance of your chat widget and make improvements to optimize the user experience. By doing so, you can ensure that your chat widget is meeting the needs of your users and providing them with valuable support.

If you need help with any of the steps outlined in this article or have any other questions related to adding a chat widget to your website, please do not hesitate to contact us online. Our team of experts is here to help you every step of the way.